Mikel Arteta lamented the “impossible task” faced by Arsenal following William Saliba’s red card as they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth to miss the chance to go top of the Premier League.
The defender was dismissed after 30 minutes following a VAR review for hauling down striker Evanilson near the halfway line and denying him a clear run on goal.
It set the stage for a first league loss this season for Arteta’s side who conceded a second-half rocket to Ryan Christie before Justin Kluivert’s late penalty, though the story could have been different had Gabriel Martinelli not fired a golden chance straight at goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga moments before the Scot’s opener.
“Playing for 65 minutes with 10 men at this level is an impossible task,” said Arteta, whose side trail Liverpool by a point at the top having played a game more.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen not to get the points. I can’t fault the team for their effort, commitment, how intelligent they were to play in the way that we had to.
“There was a big moment at 0-0 when we had a big opening, a one-against-one situation with the keeper and we don’t manage to score.
“Football is a sport where errors are part of that. Tonight we made two big errors that have cost us the game unfortunately.”
It was the third time this season that Arsenal had finished a game with 10 men following Declan Rice’s red card against Brighton and Leandro Trossard’s dismissal at Manchester City.
“There are things that we’ve discussed in relation to certain topics,” said Arteta of his side’s disciplinary issues.
“What happened today is almost an unpredictable thing to happen. The winger is going to play the ball to your centre-back in the air and its going to be a challenge with 35 or 40 meters to go.
“It’s very difficult to plan it but certainly we need to play with 11 against 11 if we want to be in the position we want to be.”
Martinelli was sent on at 0-0, an affirmation of Arteta’s belief that his 10 men could nick it, and indeed they might have but for Arrizabalaga’s brilliant save with his legs after initially giving the ball away with a casual pass.
It capped Arsenal’s best spell since the red card but soon they were rocked by Christie’s rocket 20 minutes from time, blasted in first time from a corner past a static David Raya as Kluivert’s clever flick fooled the visitors’ defence.
Kluivert capped the win from the spot after Jakub Kiwior had lost the ball to Evanilson, who was brought down by Raya.
“They (the players) have the best intentions,” said Arteta.
“Willy has never done anything like this, but he doesn’t do it on purpose, or what happened with the second goal.
“I don’t know what more we can do when you have to play away from home in this league (with 10). It’s hard enough today with 11. I thought what we did with 10 men was quite remarkable.”
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola reflected on his side bouncing back from defeat to Leicester before the international break.
“We’ve talked about recovering the points we shouldn’t have lost,” he said.
“It’s nice to do it against Arsenal. It gets a little bit easier with the red card. It’s a very valuable three points for us.
“(The goal) was a key moment because we missed a couple of chances at the beginning of the second half. If you don’t score then, you get dispirited.”
